Talisker 11 Year Old 2022 Special Release Whisky Review!

The one bottling in the 2022 Diageo Special Releases that immediately caught my eye. Why? Because it's a reasonably-priced, cask strength, ex-bourbon cask Talisker that is natural colour and non-chill filtered. Which is a winning formula! 

The packaging has stepped even further into the cartoon realm with these 2022 Special Releases, which as usual have arrived in Australia just under a year after their release in Europe. There are quite a few departures from the norm in this latest batch; adding virgin oak casks to the venerable Lagavulin 12-year old, adding a PX & Oloroso sherry finish to a 12-year old Clynelish with a hefty price tag, and releasing a 26-year old single grain whisky from Cameronbridge Distillery which retails for a very ambitious $599 AUD. What is not a departure from the norm perhaps is a very expensive non-age statement Mortlach release, this time featuring not only virgin oak casks but also two different varieties of sweet fortified wine cask, and retailing for $420 AUD. It's great that Diageo is giving Mortlach some well-deserved attention, but if I can speak for the whisky nerds of the world, all we want is a teenaged Oloroso sherry matured/finished Mortlach, with an age statement, that allows the distillery to live up to its legendary moniker of "The Beast of Dufftown". The 2023 Special Releases were recently unveiled in Britain, and thankfully both the packaging designs and the cask treatments have seemingly been dialled down. Despite the size of the company, Diageo certainly does seem to react to customer feedback, or even predict it! Besides all of that, these are still cask strength, non-chill filtered and natural colour releases from some of Diageo's most highly regarded distilleries, many of which are among Scotland's best. But I'm getting off topic here, we should be talking about Talisker! 

From the outset there were two bottlings in the 2022 releases that immediately appealed to me, not only because they're the cheapest / most reasonably priced of the bunch! These were the 10-year old Oban that was finished in Amontillado sherry casks, and the 11-year old Talisker that we're looking at here. We've been treated to some delicious Taliskers in the Special Releases over the last five years; starting with the fantastic 8-year old from 2018 that was matured in heavily-charred first-fill bourbon barrels, then a delicious 15-year old in 2019 that was matured in re-charred refill ex-bourbon barrels, followed by a slight departure in 2020 with an 8-year old rum cask finish, and then the 8-year old refill cask from 2021 that was taken from their "smokiest reserves". When the news first appeared about this 2022 bottling I was rather excited, partly since it was a little older at 11-years, but mainly because it was matured in bourbon casks. Specifically, the packaging states: "Lightly peated stocks from ex-bourbon casks". However, as is sometimes the case with Diageo's Special Releases, some of the press release blogs & also plenty of retailer websites seem to have gotten a little confused, and are stating that this whisky was matured in both ex-bourbon casks and ex-wine casks. Both the packaging and Diageo's official whisky site (malts.com) don't mention wine casks in relation to this Talisker, and to my palate there's no overt wine influence in the whisky itself. Furthermore, I can't see Diageo adding wine casks to a Talisker special release, which would be quite a big deal, and then neglecting to mention it on either the packaging or on their own website.

Being the whisky pedant that I am, I had to find out! So I reached out to Ewan Gunn, Diageo's Senior Global Brand Ambassador, to ask if he could confirm. Ewan was very helpful when I reached out to clear up the confusion that surrounded the brilliant 2019 12-year old Cragganmore special release, where many sources were wrongly stating that it was merely matured in ex-peated whisky casks, rather than the spirit itself being distilled from peated barley. Come to think of it there was a similar issue with the 15-year old Talisker released in the same year, which some had misinterpreted as being fully matured in virgin oak! That time Colin Dunn, Diageo's Whisky Brand Ambassador for Western Europe, came to the rescue and helped clarify that this was certainly not the case. This time Ewan has once again been extremely helpful, and even went so far as to contact the actual blender who signed off on the vatting for this release! Said blender confirmed that this 11-year old Talisker was matured solely in ex-bourbon casks, both first-fill and refill, and there was no wine involved.

Many whisky cynics like to think of Diageo as some faceless & soulless corporate monolith, and that its employees have all been enslaved towards the ultimate goal of global domination. In my experience that's really not the case, the staff that I've come across at the company's distilleries in Scotland have all been warm & welcoming, and passionate & professional. Now we have some pesky small-time whisky blogger in Brisbane, Australia, contacting Diageo's senior brand ambassadors in Britain and questioning details on whiskies from the previous year/s. Rather than being told to go away or being ignored completely, both of these gentlemen have promptly gone above & beyond to find the answer/s and set the record straight. Both Ewan and Colin deserve to be commended for their fantastic work that to my mind exemplifies what a brand ambassador should be. 

So, we have an 11-year old cask strength Talisker from the Isle of Skye. It has been fully matured only in ex-bourbon casks, both first-fill and refill, and bottled at 55.1% ABV without chill filtration or added colour. Retail pricing in Australia is around $190 AUD, which is very reasonable in this day & age. Summarising Talisker in twenty words or less; lightly peated, wooden washbacks, purifiers on spirit stills, worm tub condensers, sea salt & black pepper, coastal & delicious. Side note before we get to the review, you may have noticed that this 2022 release states that it's from "lightly peated stocks" while the 2021 8-year old stated "from our smokiest reserves". Talisker only makes one spirit which is peated to around 20 ppm, so these labels are referring to the flavour profile of the casks that were in the vatting/blend, rather than a different peating level in the spirit itself. Tasting time!

Talisker 11-Year Old, Special Releases 2022, 55.1%. Isle of Skye, Scotland.

Fully matured in ex-bourbon casks, both first-fill and refill (no wine casks involved). Non-chill filtered, natural colour.

Colour: Gold. 

Nose: Fresh, fruity, and briny. Green olives in oily & salty brine, crumbly & sharp mature cheddar cheese, sweet vanilla fudge, and warm sandy beaches. Touch of tinned peaches & pineapple chunks in juice. Green chilli flakes (trademark Talisker), golden malted barley, sweet lemon zest, and dry & ashy wood smoke. 

Texture: Medium weight. Oily, spicy, smoky. Slight heat but it works. 

Taste: More tinned peaches & pineapple chunks in juice, and sweet lemon zest. Sweet vanilla fudge fades quickly into table salt, white pepper, and those green chilli flakes. Dry wood smoke with hot ash, and a touch of melted salted butter. 

Finish: Long length. Mild green chilli flakes and warm sand carry through, with the melted salted butter and olive brine following along. That ashy wood smoke is softer now, more of an undercurrent. Golden malted barley, tinned fruit, sweet lemon, and a flash of almond frangipane (almond pastry cream filling) to finish. 

Score: 4 out of 5. Just over the line maybe, but it's there.

Notes: An easier, lighter take on young cask strength Talisker. But there's no loss of distillery character, and the cask influence is kept nicely in check. That blender mentioned above has certainly done a good job with this one, if you ask me. It's possibly a little sweeter than expected, probably that lighter style showing through, but there are good doses of the trademark Talisker salt & pepper and that green chilli fruitiness that I love in the good examples of the make. It's still undeniably coastal as well, despite the widely lamented mainland maturation for the vast majority of Talisker spirit. Both Talisker and Caol Ila are great examples for the "terroir" and "there's no salt in whisky" arguments, with good talking points for both sides of the debate! 

Getting back to this 11-year old Special Release, it easily beats both the 2021 and 2020 8-year old releases if you ask me, and I'd put it on par with the 2019 15-year old. It's different in style to all of those of course, but quality-wise this 2022 release is a serious player. That said, it can't hope to square up against the 2018 8-year old, but there are few who can. That was almost a freak of nature, and it was released nearly 5-years ago now in a very different whisky world. It's still my favourite Talisker of all time (even over the cask strength 25-year old, but don't tell that bottle's owner) so it's not a fair comparison. That said, this 11-year old is probably the closest in style of all the subsequent Talisker Special Releases to date, and at ~$180 AUD here in 2023 it's holding up very well. Talisker fans will not be disappointed. Highly recommended.

Cheers!

Whisky in Isolation The Joy of Six Whisky Review!

An independent bottling of Australian single malt from one of our newest. High strength, natural presentation, relatively reasonable pricing, different and/or unusual cask treatments to the official bottlings, and highlighting lesser-known distilleries. Which should be independent bottling 101!

Like the name suggests and like many passion projects, Whisky In Isolation was born of the pandemic. Deep in the throes of lockdowns and isolation in early 2020, Melbourne-based proprietor Justin Farmer was inspired & encouraged by his wife to pursue his passion for whisky in earnest. That initially began with a blog under the Whisky in Isolation name, but soon blossomed into filling casks with spirit from various distilleries, experimenting with different finishes on maturing whisky, and playing around with vatting / blending casks of mature whiskies. The first Whisky In Isolation bottling titled "Nearly New York Sour" (in homage to the cocktail) was released in mid-2022, and there have been another three releases since. The subsequent releases have been sourced from VIC's Kinglake Distillery, Tasmania's Hobart Whisky / Devil's Distillery, and now Victoria's Chief's Son Distillery. Four releases in under 12-months is not a bad run for such a tiny operation, and the plan is to stick to similar volumes for the foreseeable future - meaning, all going well, there should be another three releases coming in the remainder of 2023. Justin has partnered with a number of small distilleries for future releases, both in Tasmania and on the Australian mainland, with a simple but effective goal in mind: "just great whisky". All bottlings to date have been around the same relatively reasonable price point, which has helped Justin gather quite the following in such a short period of time. 

This fourth release from Whisky In Isolation is from Chief's Son Distillery, a small operation located on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, around an hour's drive south-east of Melbourne. Chief's Son was founded by husband & wife team Stuart & Naomi McIntosh back in 2013, which practically makes them middle-aged in terms of the continuing (for now) boom in Australian distilleries. Chief's Son single malts are double distilled in a single copper pot still that is heated by an internal electric element, which is quite a common thing in Australian whisky production despite the extra manual labour that it involves. Stills don't come cheap, after all! Another common thing in Australian whisky production is the sourcing of wash from local breweries rather than brewing / fermenting on site, which is a cost-cutting, risk-reducing, and time-saving measure that would not be legally permitted if we were in Scotland. You could argue that doing this also helps with consistency, but my counter-argument is that that's a negative rather than a positive. You're effectively losing a large chunk of individuality and potentially personality in the finished product, particularly if multiple distilleries are using the same brewery and the same specifications. Even some of the biggest names in the industry take advantage of this method (some would say "loophole"), and Chief's Son are no exception. They do take it a step further though by specifying a number of different types of brewer's malts, or at least different specialty roasting levels, in their mash bills. These range from pale malt to crystal (think Benromach Cara Gold) and chocolate malt (think Glenmorangie Signet), while small amounts of peated malted barley are sourced from Scotland.  

The Whisky In Isolation bottling that we're looking at today is the oldest Chief's Son whisky bottled to date, at 6-years and 6-months of age. That may sound young on a global scale - probably because it is young on a global scale - but that's almost middle-aged by Australian whisky standards where many releases are only aged for the legal minimum of 2-years before they're pushed out the door. New expression The Joy of Six has been fully matured in small format first-fill French oak ex-apera fortified wine casks that were sourced from the Barossa Valley in South Australia. Apera is basically our take on a Spanish sherry, generally approximating an Oloroso style, although they tend to be lighter in style than you might expect from a traditional Oloroso sherry. Being first-fill and small format French oak casks though, I'm sure there's going to be plenty of both fortified influence and wood influence here. Small format casks in Australian whisky generally means 20-litre or 50-litre casks, or somewhere in between. These tiny casks combined with our warm and highly variable climate can wreak havoc on maturing spirit, particularly given the aggressive nature of French oak that is the most commonly used species in our industry - which is essentially dictated by the local table & fortified wine industries who have the first go at the casks before selling them on. The saving grace in this case is blending (a.k.a. vatting, still a single malt) these small casks of Chief's Son whisky together, playing around with the flavour profile, and also adjusting the ABV for the best results. In this case a few 20-litre casks were vatted together, and the ABV was reduced slightly to 54.25% because that's where Justin felt this whisky was at its best. It is of course non-chill filtered and natural colour, and retails here for $195 AUD in a 500ml bottle, with a tiny outturn of 105 bottles. As mentioned above, that's a perfectly reasonable price in Australia compared to much of the competition - both in independent and official bottlings - particularly at this age and ABV. 

For those familiar with Australian whisky, I know what you'll be thinking here, particularly if you've spied the colour below. "20-litre first-fill fortified wine casks for 6.5-years in Australia, so we're probably in for another overly sweet, overly wood-driven whisky, right?" Well I wouldn't be so hasty, since those specialty malts used at Chief's Son seem to balance out the impact of the fortified wine casks, and also because Justin has selected and vatted these particular casks for a reason. The bottle of The Joy of Six for this review was kindly donated by Justin, with no strings attached. So let's see how it goes, shall we? 

Whisky in Isolation "The Joy of Six", 6-years old, 54.25% ABV. Victoria, Australia.

Distilled at Chief's Son Distillery in Somerville, Victoria. Vatting of 2 x 20-litre first-fill ex-Apera (sherry style fortified wine) casks. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 105 bottles. 

Colour: Polished dark brown. 

Nose: Sweet, woody, toasty. Treacle, sultanas, sweetened ginger, and soft liquorice. Lightly burnt toast, bitter orange peel, and fresh Christmas pudding with the skin on. Even a flicker of marzipan and rich buttercream icing. Well-toasted oak, milky coffee with a dash of vanilla syrup, and soft leather. 

Texture: Medium weight. Syrupy in texture but less sweet than the nose, more toasty & roasty. Warming, no heat at all. 

Taste: More treacle, sweetened ginger, bitter orange peel, and toasted oak. Currants rather than sultanas here, and coffee froth/foam rather than syrup. That buttercream icing and soft old leather again, with some ginger toffee fudge. 

Finish: Medium length. Ginger again, spent coffee grounds, sweet toasted oak, and cinnamon. Ginger porter (dark ale) too. That soft old leather shows again, plus a little oily wood polish, and toffee fudge. Turning slightly astringent towards the end with tea leaves  - that'll be the tannins showing themselves, without going too far. 

Score: 3.5 out of 5. Not too far from a 4, in fact. 

Notes: Lovely complexity for a relatively young whisky that has been matured in small first-fill casks, which is a surprise. There are still shades of the Chief's Son official bottlings in places, but this independent certainly seems more rounded and more mature in comparison - which makes sense, since this is the oldest Chief's Son bottled to date. The sweetness and wood influence are both immediately obvious, but they're actually well balanced and measured, neither is allowed to steal the show. The tannins that we expect from small French oak casks don't show up until late in the finish, and they don't get into the full bitterness that many similarly-aged whiskies do. Which is a very good thing. Those ginger & fudgy notes are delicious as well. Makes for a great winter warmer!

This is still a very "Aussie" style whisky of course, in terms of sweetness and wood influence. But it's on the great quality end of the spectrum that isn't all about raw oak and using overly sweet fortified wine or other shenanigans to hide an undercooked whisky. Think modern Heartwood, Highwayman, Iniquity, Launceston, that sort of thing. Add the extremely competitive pricing at this age and ABV, and you're onto a winner. This is my first Whisky in Isolation bottling, and it's very impressive stuff. Already looking forward to the next one!

Thanks to Justin for the bottle for this review. It'll be thoroughly enjoyed and widely shared!

Cheers!

Longrow Red 15 Year Old Pinot Noir Whisky Review - Plus a Bonus!

The latest (in Australia) early-2022 release in the Longrow "Red" series of wine finished / matured heavily peated Springbank spirit, plus a bonus review of its close relative. The Longrow Open Day 2020 special release!

I have a complicated relationship with the Longrow 'Red' series of red wine cask bottlings. I'd almost go as far as calling them hit & miss, at least for my tastes. So far my picks of the series have been the 10-year old refill Malbec finish from late 2020 and the 11-year old refill Pinot Noir finish from early 2019, although I'm yet to try the 11-year old first-fill Port Cask matured from 2014 or the brand-new Tawny Port bottling that was recently released in Europe. As you can guess from those two winners, most of the first-fill wine cask finishes in the Longrow Red series have left me cold, ranging from decent, to good, but not great. So I'm clearly preferring the refill casks with less wine influence and more of the distillery character on display, and getting outside of the Red series, the 14-year old Sherry Cask (yes, that was all refill casks!) and this incredible refill port cask from Cadenhead's have definitely reinforced that preference. I'm still wishing they'd give us a cask strength ex-bourbon matured Longrow aged in the early teens, which as far as I'm aware doesn't exist outside of the Springbank Society releases or some market-exclusive single casks. Whether all refill or a mix of first-fill and refill casks, I suspect such a thing would be outstanding. But strangely ex-bourbon seems to be the least-common cask type for this heavily peated Campbeltowner, excluding the 46% ABV core range bottling anyway. Even a cask strength version of that "entry level" NAS Longrow would satisfy my curiosity, but I don't think it'll happen anytime soon since there isn't enough out there as it is. Springbank can't keep up with the demand for even their core range bottlings of their three brands, and it's important to remember that the heavily peated Longrow and unpeated Hazelburn brands each account for only 10% of the distillery's annual production. 

I've said it before, but it bears repeating: Longrow might be heavily peated by Springbank standards, but this is not an Islay whisky. If you were to only look at everyone's favourite phenolic figures, at 55-60 ppm Longrow does sit comfortably on the higher end of the scale. But if you go in expecting something as smoky and/or peaty as a Laphroaig or an Ardbeg, there's a good chance you're going to be disappointed. This is a heavy, sulphurous, funky spirit by design, being double distilled through Springbank's direct-fired wash still and then the worm tub condenser-equipped first spirit still. The spirit cut points for Longrow are also quite wide and quite late (69-58% for us geeks), giving it a divisive profile. And the peat itself is sourced from the Scottish mainland, generally from the east coast. The same mainland peat is used for the Springbank malt and also the majority of the malt used at sister distillery Glengyle (producing Kilkerran whisky). Speaking of which, the same peated caveats apply to Kilkerran's Heavily Peated range, which also uses mainland peat - don't expect an Islay experience there either! Despite the numbers Longrow's peat character is more of a dirty, earthy, softly smoky style, closer to an Ardmore than an Ardbeg, but in a heavier, dirtier style that is really quite unique. 

Getting back to the task at hand, this Longrow Red 15-year old is the early-2022 release, the latest to make it to Australia. An 11-year old Tawny Port bottling has since been released in Europe, bottled in late 2022, which I assume (no guarantee) will make it to Australia later this year. This early-2022 release was matured for 11-years in ex-bourbon barrels before being finished for 4-years in fresh (Springbank-ese for first fill) pinot noir casks sourced from Valli Vineyards in central Otago, New Zealand, which is roughly in the centre of the South Island's lower half - not far from Cardrona, as it happens. This is the third Longrow Red to date that has been finished in pinot noir casks; the first was a 12-year old released in 2015 which had a one year finish in first-fill NZ pinot noir casks, and the second was the aforementioned 2019 11-year old which had a 3-year finish in refill NZ pinot noir casks - sourced from the same vineyard as this 15-year old 2022 release, in fact. As usual this Longrow Red was bottled at cask strength, 51.4% ABV, without chill filtration or added colouring, with 9,400 bottles released. Retail pricing here in Australia was $270-300, and inevitably many will have been flipped for profit (by both retailers and retail customers) in short order. Let's see how it goes!

Longrow Red 15-Year Old Pinot Noir Cask, early 2022, 51.4%. Campbeltown, Scotland.

Matured for 11-years in ex-bourbon, finished for 4-years in first-fill ex-NZ pinot noir red wine casks. 9,400 bottles released Feb 2022. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 

Colour: Bronze. 

Nose: Fruity, earthy, rich & sweet. Buttery toasted oak, stewed plums & black cherries, dried apricot. Brown sugar butter caramel, and wine tannins (red grape skins and cold black tea). Old leather, and gravy powder. Touches of spearmint & white pepper around the edges. 

Texture: Medium weight. Oily, buttery, fruity. No heat. 

Taste: More buttery toasted oak, leather, grape skins & cold black tea (tannins). Touches of white pepper & gravy powder. Stewed stone fruit & dried apricot again but some berries here too, blackberry & blueberry jam. Touch of dark chocolate too, but the wine is doing the heavy lifting here.

Finish: Short-medium length. More cold black tea, buttery caramelised oak, leather & stewed berries & cherries. Earthy peat & dirty smoke coming through towards the end. 

Score: 3.5 out of 5. 

Notes: An enjoyable Longrow Red, sweeter & fresher than I generally find these releases. Too winey for my tastes though, and the funk is very restrained - barely there at all, in fact, and the trademark earthy peat & dirty smoke don't show up until very late in the third act. So red wine lovers will probably enjoy this one if they aren't fans of Longrow's dirty, sulphury side. But anyone can make a red wine-forward whisky, while only one distillery can make Longrow. Quite a bit of fresh oak influence in this 15-year old too, which seems to push the sweetness up. Like many of these Longrow Red bottlings, I think there's too much wine and too much cask, and not enough distillery character. We need more refill casks in this series please Springbank! How about some ex-bourbon cask Longrow releases too, while you're at it? Lose the "Red" part of the equation and give us the ex-bourbon maturation without the wine finishes. To quote the disco era; "we want the funk". To paraphrase another; "won't you take us to funky town?". 

And now, the bonus round! 

The Open Day 2020 Longrow bottling is a vatting of two first-fill Pinot Noir casks and two refill Malbec casks, all fully matured and aged for 10-years. Springbank's Open Day bottlings are released for the annual Campbeltown Festival, so they're the equivalent of a Feis Ile bottling. There's usually a Springbank, a Longrow and a Hazelburn, plus a Kilkerran from sister distillery Glengyle, and they're generally a small batch of 3-6 casks sold only from the distillery shop. Thanks to the pandemic though the 2020 Campbeltown Festival had to turn virtual, and it didn't take place at all in 2021, while things have since returned to physical normality in '22. That virtual festival in 2020 meant that the Open Day bottlings were more widely available than usual, and could be purchased directly from the distillery's website for shipping within Europe. I was able to get a bottle on the secondary market which wasn't cheap, but it was more reasonable than some of the more "sexy" bottlings from the same distillery that are still attracting ludicrous pricing on the same websites. Longrow Open Day 2020 was fully matured in 2 x first-fill Pinot Noir red wine casks and 2 x refill Malbec red wine casks, all at least ten years old, with the four casks yielding 1,284 bottles at a cask strength of 53.7% ABV. Malbec is the heavier of these two wine varieties with more tannins, with pinot noir being on the lighter side in comparison. So I'm already thankful that those Malbec casks were refill. Tasting time!

Longrow Open Day 2020, 10-years old, 53.7%. Campbeltown, Scotland.

Vatting of 2 x first-fill pinot noir wine casks and 2 x refill malbec wine casks, bottled for Springbank 'Virtual Open Day' 2020. 1,284 bottles. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 

Colour: Bronze. 

Nose: Rich, thick & meaty. Loads of dark chocolate & dried raspberry. Blueberry & sour black cherry. Touch of spearmint around the edges, a little powdered ginger there too. Boysenberry ripple ice cream, but light on the vanilla. Earthy peat, roast meat drippings (pork?) & gravy powder, soft wine tannins. Rich toffee fudge & black pepper. 

Texture: Medium-heavy weight. Rich, earthy, meaty & fatty. No heat at all. 

Taste: Lightly smoky, earthy & meaty. More dark chocolate, rich toffee fudge, sour black cherry, and dried raspberry. Powdered ginger & spearmint around the edges again, plus a pinch of black pepper. Creamy boysenberry ripple ice cream again. Touch of coffee grounds in the background.  

Finish: Long length. More meaty roast meat drippings & gravy powder, and earthy, dirty peat. Slight touch of dried orange. Rich chocolate, turning creamy & lactic. Soft grape tannins again, and more blueberry. Creamy chocolate to finish. 

Score: 4 out of 5. 

Notes: A deliciously earthy, meaty, Longrow that sits almost entirely on the savoury spectrum - more of these please! The wine influence is still obvious of course, but it's less dominant / overbearing than it is in some / most of the regular "Red" bottlings, including the one above. The trademark Longrow earthy peat & dirty smoke signature is very much in the background, or rather it's very well integrated, and the dirty Campbeltown "funk" diesel notes that we all love are still quite soft in this one. But it's no less delicious as a result. I'd rank it slightly above my favourite of the Longrow Red bottlings to date, the 11-year old refill Pinot Noir finish from 2019. It's not really a direct comparison though because this Open Day bottling isn't part of the Red series. Those releases tend to be finished in one particular type of wine cask, while this Open Day bottling was fully matured in two different types of wine cask, and crucially they were a mix of both first-fill and refill. Which has certainly helped retain the distillery character without going over the top with the wine influence. Good stuff!

Cheers!

Old Master Spirits 44-Year Old Armagnac Review!

Another old "malternative" brandy from Old Master with a bargain price. This latest release is a single cask of Bas armagnac that was distilled way back in 1978, with an age statement of a whopping 44-years!  

I'm starting to think Old Master Spirits are just teasing us with these old brandies! Both the age statements and the attached pricing are truly remarkable from any whisky drinker's perspective. From a 63-year old cognac to the recent XXO armagnac bottling, if you were to look at an equivalent whisky the pricing would make most feel nauseous. Age aside, all of the Old Master bottlings so far have been great quality and very reasonably priced - particularly when compared to an equivalent whisky. Yet another example is this forthcoming release, a 44-year old single cask Bas armagnac. What would an similarly aged malt whisky cost, here in the ongoing pricing madness of 2023? You'd be looking at a starting price of $3,000-$4,000 AUD on these shores, and far beyond for the "luxury" brands. We all know that armagnac doesn't carry the prestige or profit margins of an old single malt whisky, but you'd still expect such an old spirit to be over $1,000, right? Wrong! This single cask, cask strength, naturally presented 44-year old armagnac is going to sell, at retail, for $249 AUD. Which is an absolute steal. Needless to say, $250 AUD doesn't get much in the whisky world these days. For those playing overseas, here in the great southern land of tax, that's the going rate for a Glendronach or Glengoyne 18-year old, it's significantly less than we're charged for the 18-year old releases from Talisker or Highland Park, and is less than half the price of a Macallan 18. None of those whiskies are bottled at cask strength, and all but one are chill filtered. I know we're not comparing apples to apples there, in fact we're comparing grapes to malted barley. But to see a 44-year old spirit of any sort selling for roughly the same price as those examples is difficult to comprehend!

To date this Melbourne-based duo have also dabbled in Australian single malt whisky from Tasmania, Australian rum from New South Wales, and even PX sherry itself. Naturally (pun intended), and unlike most of their commercial distant cousins, all of these releases have been non-chill filtered and natural colour, and no extra sugars, flavourings or wood extracts have been added at any stage. I've gone into the shady - but sadly perfectly legal - additive practices in the brandy industry here in my first cognac review, so I won't delve into those deceptive depths again in this review. Suffice to say there are no such shenanigans or flashy marketing & packaging here, just quality spirits released with natural presentation and at good prices. That's the way Old Master do it, and that's the way their customers want it! 

This latest example is due to launch on Thursday the 25th of May (this week). Head here for more details, or sign up to Old Master Spirits' mailing list here. This eighth release from Old Master is a Bas Armagnac from Domaine De Papolle, a small armagnac house (pictured above) that is a 90-minute drive south of Bordeaux in south-west France. Distilled in 1978 from 100% Baco grapes, it was aged entirely in French oak - as per the legal requirements for armagnac (see here for more info) - for 44-years prior to bottling at the natural cask strength of 40.3% ABV. Age isn't everything of course; it doesn't always mean maturity, and on the flipside it can mean a spirit is too far gone. But that's certainly not the case here! As I've mentioned above, this armagnac is non-chill filtered, natural colour, and nothing has been added. Enough talk, let's see how it goes! 

Colour: Dark, burnt toffee. 

Nose: Sweet, oaky, spicy. Surprising vibrancy & depth for such an advanced age! Medjool dates, treacle, warm nutmeg & cinnamon. Herbal touches of dried sage & dried bay leaf. Strong Vietnamese coffee (sweetened with condensed milk), dried pineapple, polished pine furniture. Dried bitter orange peel around the edges.

Texture: Light-medium weight. Sweet, oily, oaky, soft & warming. No heat whatsoever. 

Taste: Soft & sweet entry, with treacle, black tea, that Vietnamese coffee (with condensed milk), and oily furniture polish again. Some currants and dates, dried bitter orange peel, and that bitter herbal note of sage & bay leaf (both dried). Touch of that dried pineapple adding a little acidity for balance. 

Finish: Long length. The treacle, oily furniture polish and currants carry through. Touches of rum & raisin ice cream with a dash of vanilla, and a crumbly dark chocolate fudge. Black tea and orange peel return, with that curious dried pineapple note again. 

Score: 4 out of 5. Easily.  

Notes: What a treat to nose & taste something so old - no offence intended to any readers of a similar vintage! I can comfortably say this is the most complex armagnac that I've tasted to date, and probably the most dynamic as well. It's constantly changing with time, air, and temperature, and there's a surprising depth & length on offer considering the natural cask strength of "only" 40.3% ABV. Admittedly this 44-year old armagnac is approaching the upper limits of my preferences as far as wood tannins and oak influence, but it never goes over the line. In my amateur opinion, they've pulled this armagnac from the cask at exactly the right time! 

Just like some of the old G&M bottlings in the whisky world, this armagnac is further proof that a 40% ABV spirit doesn't have to be light & thin, particularly when it's not been chill filtered. The difference here of course is that it hasn't been reduced / diluted down to the legal minimum strength of 40%, rather it's naturally come down to a cask strength of 40.3% during maturation. Which is an important distinction, and quite a rare thing even at an advanced age. This rarity is an absolute bargain at the retail pricing of $249 AUD. Do not miss this one folks! 

Cheers!

Smokehead Rum Rebel & High Voltage Whisky Reviews!

Another "mystery" rum cask finished Islay single malt, this time from Ian McLeod Distillers, plus their cask strength regular bottling for the sake of comparison.

From the 30-year old Rosebank from Ian McLeod, to a rum finished mystery Islay Port Askaig from Elixir Distillers, to a rum finished mystery Islay Smokehead (Caol Ila). The timing worked out rather well! It's been a long time since I tasted anything from Smokehead, in fact if memory serves neither of these two expressions existed when I last had a close look at the brand. Ian McLeod has certainly grown as a company since those early days, now with three malt distilleries under their belts; Glengoyne, Tamdhu and Rosebank. They also have half a dozen blended whisky brands in the stables, plus some gin and rum, and a couple of undisclosed / mystery single malt brands. For those of us in Australia most of these bottlings can only be found at Dan Murphy's, while some of the limited releases are more widely available. The Smokehead brand was launched back in 2006 with the namesake NAS bottling, which if memory serves was initially 40% ABV - I could be wrong, but it's currently bottled at 43% regardless. They've branched out significantly since those early days, and there's now a stout cask finish, a tequila cask finish, a sherry cask finish, and the rum cask finish & high strength bottlings that we're looking at here. None of these whiskies carry an age statement and none will tell you which distillery they're sourced from, although all are single malts from one distillery on Islay, and as far as I can find they don't switch between distilleries like some of these mystery bottlings. Obviously like the majority (but not all) of undisclosed Islay single malts Smokehead is most likely Caol Ila, being the largest distillery on the island and the easiest to source for independent bottlings. But Ian McLeod is being tight-lipped about the details, preferring to focus on basic tasting notes and cask finishes instead, not to mention the very "rock & roll" marketing angles & packaging designs. 

The two whiskies I'm reviewing here came from a sample pack of 3 x 50ml samples featuring the standard Smokehead, Rum Rebel, and High Voltage expressions. This pack can be found for around $30 AUD on these shores, which is a good deal considering that these whiskies are bottled at 43%, 46%, and 58% ABV respectively. I must admit the Australian pricing on the full-size bottles is quite reasonable as well; $80 for the standard bottling, $107 for the rum cask finish, and $113 for the high strength. Presumably that's because they're unofficially exclusive to our largest retailer, so there's no real competition on the market since any opposition would struggle to match the pricing. The whiskies themselves are probably quite young, but young Caol Ila can be very enjoyable when it's been looked after. Hopefully that's the case here. Unfortunately neither of these Smokehead bottlings mentions chill filtration or added colouring, and European labels do carry the dreaded "Mit Farbstoff" ("with dye" in German) artificial colouring warning required by the German additive regulations. I realise that the hardcore whisky geek is not the main target market for these whiskies, but would it really hurt to be a little more open? Even if it was only on the website rather than the packaging itself. Surely since these whiskies are bottled at 46% and above there'd be no need to chill filter them, but Ian McLeod don't deem it necessary to tell us. Which is the same issue I had with Glengoyne Legacy at 48%, where the first batch stated that it was non-chill filtered, but it was omitted from the subsequent batches. On the other hand the company's single malts from Tamdhu Distillery do declare that they're natural colour and un-chill filtered (where applicable) on their labelling and packaging, so why not implement those declarations across your whole single malt range Ian McLeod Distillers? It think it's time you got on the transparency train with both feet, rather than just the one toe...

We'll start with the 'Rum Rebel' Smokehead, which is bottled at 46% ABV. We don't know an age, we don't know a distillery, we don't know if it's coloured or chill filtered, but we do know that it's been finished in Caribbean rum casks for an undisclosed period of time. A rum cask finish isn't as rebellious these days as it was a few years ago, but I suppose the packaging and design are about as far from the tweed & tartan Scotch whisky crowd as you can get, so that's the cause they've chosen for this rebel. Let's see how it goes. 

Smokehead Rum Rebel, NAS, 46%. Islay, Scotland.

Undisclosed Islay single malt, finished in Caribbean rum casks. Unknown colouring or chill filtration. 

Colour: Gold. 

Nose: Fresh, sweet & coastal. Salted butter out of the fridge, vanilla essence, green peppercorns. Fatty smoked bacon, uncooked. Touches of sweetened lime juice & green banana, even banana chips. Drying muddy oyster shells, and warm sea salt. Gentle ashy smoke around the edges. 

Texture: Light-medium weight. Rich, syrupy, gently coastal. Slight touch of heat but pleasant. 

Taste: Dried green banana (banana chips), big pinch of sea salt, brown sugar, green chilli flakes, and vanilla buttercream icing / frosting. 

Finish: Short-medium length. Syrupy sweetness, with the cold salted butter and uncooked fatty smoked bacon returning. Dried oyster shells, green chilli flakes and that dried green banana (banana chips) to finish. 

Score: 3 out of 5. 

Notes: Certainly sitting on the sweeter side of the spectrum for malt whisky, and the rum casks have definitely made their mark, albeit without going too far and dominating the spirit. I'd say it's quite a well balanced whisky in fact, not particularly complex but easy drinking and enjoyable. Solid value for money as well. 

On to the big brother, the (only) high ABV version of Smokehead, dubbed High Voltage. There's no mention of cask strength on the packaging or website, nor is there any mention of cask type so it's presumably matured in refill hogsheads. As with the previous one there's no mention of colouring or chill filtration. Based on appearance I'm certain that is has been dosed with E150, and while it'd basically be pointless to chill filter a whisky bottled at 58% ABV we don't know what they don't tell us. Let's see how it goes!

Smokehead High Voltage, NAS, 58%. Islay, Scotland.

Undisclosed Islay single malt. No information given on distillery, age, cask type, colouring, or chill filtration. 

Colour: Amber. Certainly some E150a here I'd say. 

Nose: Orange citrus, metallic, gently smoky. Fresh orange, damp rusty metal (e.g. old iron sheeting in the rain), black pepper and cayenne powder. Burnt bacon, toffee, gentle ashy smoke, touch of acidic pineapple and blowtorched herbs. 

Texture: Medium weight. Oily, hot, ashy & metallic, and cloyingly sweet. Noticeable heat

Taste: Big ashy smoke, fades into that rusty metal again, artificial vanilla syrup, sugary toffee. Distractingly saccharine and cloying. Sweet orange cordial. 

Finish: Medium length. Spirity heat carries on for quite a while, spiky. Some rough casks in the mix here I think. Still has that artificial sweetness too. Sweet orange cordial, smoked bacon and gentle ashy smoke underneath. 

Score: 2.5 out of 5. But only just. 

Notes: Too cloyingly sweet for my tastes, and also noticeably hot & rough - which is unusual for a Caol Ila. That strange metallic note is a little distracting too, and I get the impression that this whisky would actually taste quite bitter and even hotter/rougher if it wasn't so sweet. I'm not sure where that distracting level of extra sweetness is coming from either, Caol Ila's spirit is naturally quite sweet but I don't recall tasting any that have taken it this far, to the point where it comes off as saccharine, artificial and almost chemical. I'd almost think there were some cheap sweet wine casks in the mix here, but I'm sure they'd make more noise about it if that were the case. Granted, Smokehead High Voltage is cheaper than the opposition on the high strength mystery Islay shelves, e.g. Port Askaig 100 Proof, Scarabus Batch Strength, and Finlaggan Cask Strength, but in my opinion this Smokehead can't match any of those in terms of balance, complexity, and just outright quality.

Overall Notes: Well I'm obviously preferring the Rum Rebel between these two. And by a larger margin than the 5-point scoring system can get across. Sure, both aren't particularly complex whiskies, but that's not the goal here, and it's not uncommon in young Caol Ila either. These Smokehead releases are sweet, straightforward, gently smoky, crowd-pleasing whiskies at reasonable prices, and there's definitely a big market for such a thing. 

Cheers!

Port Askaig 9 Year Old New Zealand Exclusive Whisky Review!

A New Zealand exclusive Port Askaig single cask bottled for Whisky Galore / Dramfest. And it's a rum cask finish, which means this is probably a rum cask finished Caol Ila. And that's quite the rarity! 

Port Askaig is one of the independent bottling brands from Elixir Distillers, formerly owners of The Whisky Exchange, which is now owned by Pernod Ricard; and now the owners of Tormore Distillery, which was formerly owned by Pernod Ricard. Funny how these things pan out...Aside from Port Askaig Elixir also brings us independent whisky bottlings like Elements of Islay and Single Malts of Scotland and also Black Tot rum, with their own Islay distillery named Portintruan under construction just outside the village of Port Ellen. The Port Askaig brand only consists of Islay single malts, but is technically one of the "mystery"  undisclosed single malt Scotch whiskies. There is no Port Askaig Distillery, but there is a distillery in the village of Port Askaig that goes by the name of Caol Ila. Not all Port Askaig bottlings are Caol Ila mind you, but the two permanent bottlings in the range, the 8-year old at 45.8% and the delicious 100 Proof at 57.1% ABV (110 Proof and bottled at 55% in the US) are. The rest of the Port Askaig bottlings are limited releases to varying degrees, sometimes Caol Ila and sometimes from other distilleries, even including 45-year old unpeated Bunnahabhain in the past. Since Caol Ila is Islay's largest distillery with a capacity of over 6-million litres (ramped up from 4-million a few years ago) and is underutilised as a single malt by owner Diageo, it is therefore one of the easiest to source for independent bottling and/or blending. So it stands to mathematical reason that the majority of the anonymous & undisclosed Islay independent bottlings will be Caol Ila, regardless of which label they're wearing. That's certainly not a negative though, this distillery produces fantastic whisky, and if it weren't for the independent bottlings it would be difficult to experience "proper" Caol Ila as a single malt. There are rumours that Diageo are going to slow or even stop the on-selling of Caol Ila to brokers and independent bottlers, but let's just hope that isn't true. If it is, they'd better pick their act up and give this distillery the attention it deserves; i.e. bring back the cask strength!

Why am I reviewing a New Zealand exclusive bottling when I'm not in New Zealand? Well, firstly because a generous resident of NZ sent me a sample. But also because this is a rum cask finished Port Askaig, which is the first time I've seen such a thing in the southern hemisphere. Which means there's a strong chance that this is a rum cask finished Caol Ila, which is the first time I've seen such a thing - Google tells me it's been done before by a couple of much smaller independent bottlers, but I'm yet to see any of those examples, let alone try them. We don't see many rum cask finishes from Islay in general, but in my experience it can work beautifully with peated whisky when done well. Ardbeg have dabbled in rum finishes in the past with 2019's (lacklustre) Drum release and the (much better) Committee Release version, while Kilchoman have released some excellent rum finished single casks. Further afield some larger producers have started delving into rum casks recently, including Diageo with their special release Talisker 8-year old in 2020 and more recently the Cardhu 16-year old special release in 2022. With more traditional finishing casks (i.e. sherry) constantly becoming scarcer and more expensive, and with the large corporates now buying Spanish bodegas to secure their own cask supplies, we'll continue to see more unusual cask maturations and/or finishes in Scotch whisky, from mezcal to cognac and further afield. This shift has been spurred on by the changes made to the Scotch whisky regulations back in 2019. Crucially, oak is still the only permitted wood type, and the previous contents must be barrel aged in its traditional production, i.e. you can't throw some vodka or gin in a cask and then finish your Scotch whisky in that cask, because those spirits are not traditionally barrel aged. If you do you can't label it as Scotch whisky, and you can expect a visit from the SWA. Which is a good thing; without these regulations you'd have chaos. Look at what's been happening in Australian whisky with soft drink casks and Christmas mince pie casks for the worst case scenario, let alone just about every producer adding more unnecessary sugar to their whisky by throwing their 2-year old spirit, often already too sweet and too woody, in maple syrup casks...

This Port Askaig rum cask finish is a single cask New Zealand exclusive, selected and bottled in "collaboration" with Whisky Galore in Christchurch - the importer, distributor and retailer behind the biannual Dramfest whisky festival. This is a 9-year old whisky, matured for 7-years in a refill bourbon cask and then finished for 2-years in a first-fill rum barrel, bottled at a cask strength of 58.2% without chill filtration or added colouring. There's essentially no point in talking about price with this one since New Zealand plays by a different set of rules to Australia, but I can't help it. Retail pricing is just $112 NZD, the equivalent of around $105 AUD or $70 USD. That's an incredible price for a cask strength single cask Islay, let alone an exclusive bottling. Other reasons & factors (of which there are many) aside, the New Zealand government charges almost half the amount of alcohol excise on spirits than the Australian government does here - currently $60.54 NZD (around $57 AUD) per litre of 100% alcohol vs. $97.90 AUD (around $104.50 NZD) per litre at 100% alcohol. And the rate there is increased every 12-months there, as opposed to every 6-months here. Sigh. While we're on the subject, in the U.S. according to the TTB site their federal spirits excise rate is just $13.50 USD... per GALLON (that's 3.78L) at 100% alcohol. That's not including any tariffs or state taxes, which are significant, but even so, double sigh. Moving right along, it's time for a dram...

Port Askaig 9-Year Old, Rum Cask Finish Single Cask, 58.2%. Islay, Scotland.

Exclusive to New Zealand. Anonymous Islay single malt (likely Caol Ila), distilled 2013, matured in refill bourbon for 7-years, finished in first-fill rum barrel for 2-years. Cask #4432. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 

Colour: Pale gold. 

Nose: A little sharp, vegetal, ashy, and sweet. Grassy malt with a touch of smoked ham (Caol Ila's calling card), thick boot polish (paste/cream, not liquid), and slight aniseed. Chilli salt, smoked pork rinds, and sea spray. Bandages and a hint of oyster shells around the edges. There are some subtle tropical fruits - banana & papaya, I'd say - with a light caramel syrup, but the rum cask certainly isn't shouting at me. 

Texture: Medium weight. Syrupy, ashy, sweet & grassy. No heat, nicely warming. 

Taste: More thick boot polish & chilli salt before Caol Ila's sweet grassy spirit comes through, bringing a wave of ashy smoke with it. The light caramel syrup & banana around the edges again. Bandages on the exhale. There's certainly a denser, more syrupy sweetness here than your typical Caol Ila, but it's still quite a subtle influence. 

Finish: Medium length. The ashy smoke and sweet syrup (maybe even cane juice?) continue, then the chilli salt - but it's green chilli now rather than red - and boot polish make a fleeting appearance. Grassy malt and a tough of woody (bitter) herbs & aniseed. There's possibly a slight "rum funk" underneath that syrupy sweetness, e.g. overripe banana and brown sugar, but that could be the power of suggestion. 

Score: 3.5 out of 5. 

Notes: Well the rum cask influence is certainly subtle, but that's not a negative. In fact this is a great example of a cask finish done well, where it integrates with the spirit rather than dominating it, boosting some aspects (sweetness in this case) and adding an extra flare without becoming distracting or obstructive. Most rum cask finished peated whiskies that I've tried do seem to lean that way, unlike some other cask types that seem to want all the attention for themselves. Casks aside, this is another tasty Caol Ila from Port Askaig / Elixir Distillers who certainly know their way around the spirit from this Islay workhorse. As one of Diageo's dependables the spirit is extremely consistent, but it does need to be handled with care by bottlers. Along with Elixir, Gordon & MacPhail and Signatory Vintage are in that same grouping I think. Diageo are up there too, they just don't want us to know they are. Their Feis Ile bottlings and distillery exclusives tend to be great spirit-driven Caol Ilas. Whereas some other bottlers think it's Laphroaig and end up bashing it over the head with cask influence - especially if first-fill sherry is involved. This rum cask finish Port Askaig is a great example, and it's an absolute steal at the NZ pricing.

Cheers!

Rosebank 30 Year Old Whisky Review!

The legendary Rosebank, the recently rediscovered gem of the Lowlands region. New owners, new releases, and (eventually) new spirit!

Before you ask, yes, this is an expensive bottle of whisky, and despite only being a 2021 release it's largely sold out. At $3,000 AUD on these shores when it was released a couple of years ago, it was already out of many whisky drinkers' reaches. My own included. That was a high price when this whisky was released nearly three years ago, but in the sorry state of affairs that is the current global whisky market, $3,000 for a 30-year old cask strength official bottling from a closed (but re-opening) distillery is actually reasonable. I know that's quite a bitter pill, but it's true. As an example the most recent of Diageo's Port Ellen releases, a 40-year old batch of 1,380 bottles, is priced at $12,500 here in Australia and £8,000 for those in the UK. 

Unlike Port Ellen, Rosebank managed to survive the wholesale slaughter of the early 1980s. In fact it was more highly regarded at the time, but that wasn't enough to save it from the accountants red pen. The doors were closed in June 1993, over 150-years after they'd first opened, when Diageo-predecessor United Distillers elected to close the distillery rather than spending two million pounds on necessary upgrades. Here in 2023 three legendary dead distilleries are being rebuilt and reopened, in fact Diageo's Brora is already up & running after nearly four decades spent gathering dust. Port Ellen is still under Diageo's ownership, but the site required the most work out of this dead distillery trifecta, compounded by its remote location and also the pandemic. Rosebank was slightly better off since the distillery buildings were still standing on the original site in Falkirk roughly 45-minutes north-west of Edinburgh, but the resurrection has been very long-winded, and at the time of writing the distillery is still under construction. Falkirk is now more widely known for it's "Falkirk Wheel" rotating boat lift and the Kelpies sculptures, but to the more devout whisky lovers it's still known as the home of Rosebank. Once the new distillery is finally up & running, it will be again!

Owing to its convenient location on the banks of the Forth & Clyde Canal, the neglected & unloved Rosebank site was sold to the government group that managed the country's waterways. The distillery buildings soon fell into disrepair, and the copper stills & mash tun were partially stolen (cut apart and stolen over a period of days/weeks) by metal thieves in the late 2000s. Diageo still owned the Rosebank brand and sporadically released some of the remaining casks as official bottlings, including a Flora & Fauna bottling that was launched in the late 1990s and concluding with a 21-year old cask strength in 2014. Rosebank was & is quite a unique distillery among the Lowlanders since it used 100% triple distillation combined with worm tub condensers; the former giving a lighter and more floral character, and the latter giving a textural, more robust character. In late 2017 Ian McLeod Distillers managed to purchase both the brand and the remaining stock from Diageo, and also bought the distillery site and buildings from British Waterways. Ian McLeod are behind Glengoyne & Tamdhu distilleries and own independent bottling brands such as Smokehead and Sheep Dip. In late-2019 they set about building a brand new Rosebank Distillery on the original site, while keeping some of the original structure where possible, although building works didn't actually commence until the early 2021. As you'd hope and expect they've installed the same brewing & distillation equipment that the original distillery had, with wooden washbacks, three new copper pot stills built to the original specifications (pictured above), and of course those crucial worm tub condensers. The new stills were installed in mid-2022, with eight new wooden washbacks following a few months later, but the new distillery still hasn't fired into life here in April 2023, over five years after the new owners purchased the distillery. Surely it can't be far off now! 

In the meantime Ian McLeod has been releasing the old stock that was purchased from Diageo, obviously distilled prior to the distillery closure in 1993. So far that's included two large batch releases; a 30-year old in late-2020 followed by a 31-year old in late-2022, plus a travel exclusive 1990 "Vintage Release" and a couple of single cask bottlings. We're looking at the 30-year old bottling in this review, titled "Release One" which was distilled in 1990 and released in late-2022. It's a vatting of 62% refill sherry butts and 38% refill bourbon hogsheads, yielding 4,350 bottles at a cask strength of 48.6% ABV and bottled without chill filtration or added colour. This 30-year old "Release One" bottling is sold out in Australia, but the 31-year old second release is readily available for the same price. Supposedly that second batch will be the last official bottling until the new distillery finally kicks into life, which probably means there'll be a commemorative bottling released when that happens. I've been lucky enough to try a few examples of Rosebank thus far, but this 30-year old will be the oldest to date thanks to a generous fellow whisky geek. Let's see how it goes!

Rosebank 30-year old "Release One", 48.6%. Lowlands, Scotland.

Triple distilled, 62% refill sherry butts, 38% refill bourbon hogsheads. Distilled 1990, bottled 2020. First "global release" (non-single cask) from new owners. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 4,350 bottles. 

Colour: Full gold. 

Nose: Fresh, floral, malty. Sweet thick honey, oat cakes, sweet floral perfume. Lovely rich maltiness, candied lemon & sweet orange rind. Powdered ginger, tinned fruit in syrup. Soft spicy & nutty oak further in. 

Texture: Medium-heavy weight. Rich & oily. Malty, fruity, no heat at all. 

Taste: More thick sweet honey, rich warm maltiness, lemon peel & orange rind (less sweet here).  Tinned fruit in syrup again - peaches in particular. Those sweet & floral notes are around the edges here, it's more about the malt & citrus on the palate. Not overly complex perhaps, but lovely.

Finish: Medium length. Black pepper fading into powdered ginger. Damp porridge, before the orange rind & lemon peel kick in again. Tinned fruit - peach again, maybe some pear now - and that warm maltiness to finish.

Score: 4 out of 5. Close to a 4.5, though. 

Notes: Another delicious Rosebank. No surprises there! What is surprising though is how fresh & malty this whisky is after 30-years in oak. And that's the beauty of Rosebank, the magic is in the contradictions - triple distillation for a lighter spirit, but worm tub condensers for more weight & texture which help it withstand longer ageing. Refill casks too of course, which is a winning recipe with any Lowlands whisky at an advanced age. No need for any fancy cask finishes or extra wood influence, absolutely nothing needs covering up or enhancing here! I suppose given the choice I'd like a little more length on the finish and maybe a little more complexity as well, but I'm picking nits again. This whisky has certainly been put together very well. Great balance, lovely freshness & clarity. 

I look forward to the "new" Rosebank releases in a decade or so - hopefully the distillery is up & running soon so that milestone is brought a little closer. Thanks to the generous bottle owner for this sample!

Cheers!